President Donald Trump stated between 10:46 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. UTC on January 9, 2026, that he will speak with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado about her possible role in Venezuela and is open to meeting regime vice president Delcy Rodríguez at the White House, according to X posts by AlbertoRodNews. Trump said of Machado, “She could be involved in some aspect” and “I'll have to talk to her. I think it's very kind of her to want to come,” as reported by AlbertoRodNews. He added regarding Rodríguez and others, “I am going to meet with multiple representatives of Venezuela,” noting “The relationship we now have with the people who run Venezuela is positive.” A State Department post quoted Trump saying the U.S. is “open for business” in Venezuela, adding that U.S. actions prevented China and Russia from intervening. Trump remarked, “You attack a country and they dedicate a street to you. It has never happened before,” per an X post by AlertaNews24. An X post by ValentinaForUSA attributed to Trump and Pete Hegseth the statement, “All the oil in Venezuela is now ours. If you don’t like it, then too bad.” A former Nicolás Maduro security guard provided a firsthand account of the U.S. raid, describing 20 elite American soldiers using state-of-the-art drones, electronic warfare systems, and direct energy weapons to neutralize hundreds without U.S. casualties, as posted by TheSCIF on X. The account aligns with a CSIS report from earlier on January 9 detailing the surgical nature of Operation Absolute Resolve. These statements follow a U.S. State Department delegation's 8-hour visit to Caracas earlier on January 9, confirmed by Venezuela's Foreign Ministry, and the departure of the U.S. aircraft, as previously reported.
